Canadian Stage presents SPOTLIGHT AUSTRALIA

Canadian Stage is proud to present Spotlight Australia: a six-week showcase of innovative cross-disciplinary performance from March 29 to May 7 at the company's Berkeley Street and Bluma Appel Theatres.

The fourth edition of Canadian Stage's biennial international performance festival will highlight the work of five acclaimed Australian artist/companies, many appearing in Toronto for the first time: Uncle Jack Charles & Ilbijerri Theatre, legendary photographer William Yang, Dance Company AntonyHamiltonProjects, audio-visual storyteller Tamara Saulwick and acclaimed contemporary circus-troupe Circa.

"Our Spotlight Series came into being in 2011 with the goal of creating a cross-cultural dialogue and expanding the connection between Canada and the world," said Matthew Jocelyn, Artistic and General Director. "On Canada's 150th, it felt like an opportune time to discover the multiple perspectives, tensions and creative forces coming out of our mirrored nation of Australia, a country whose foundation and history are so very close to, yet so radically different from our own. Each featured artist will give us a unique view into the poetic and political worlds they inhabit "down under" - from questions of Indigenous rights and society (Jack Charles V The Crown) to the very notion of homeland and belonging (Circa's The Return)."

ILBIJERRI, the oldest Indigenous theatre company in Australia, will tell the extraordinary autobiographical tale of one of Australia's near forgotten treasures in Jack Charles V The Crown, running March 29 to April 8. Highly regarded actor/musician/potter/Aboriginal elder Uncle Jack Charles was born out of Australia's Stolen Generation: Aboriginal children who were torn from their families by the Australian government between 1910 and 1970. Now in his 70s, and no longer caught in a cycle of addiction, crime and doing time, Uncle Jack takes to the stage to testify. Echoing the hardships of Canada's own Indigenous peoples, this heartening one-man show is a celebration of resilience, reconciliation and a life lived to its fullest.

After mesmerizing Toronto audiences with the sold out hit OPUS, Circa will return to Canadian Stage with another groundbreaking show fusing the Brisbane troupe's world-renowned stripped-back acrobatics with baroque opera. Incorporating elements of Claudio Monteverdi's famed opera The Return of Ulysses, The Return (May 3-7) is a haunting circus tale of longing from home, set against a timely backdrop of loss, war and displacement. In her 5 star review of the show, The Guardian's Lynn Gardner said, "There is poignancy, darkness and powerful humanity in Circa's extraordinary physical depiction of the struggles endured by displaced persons in search of safety."

Running April 19-23, Blood Links will give audiences the chance to get familiar with celebrated performer/photographer William Yang, whose unique slide show narratives - fusing storytelling, social history, and personal documentary photography - have been hailed among "the enduring pleasures of Australian theatre" by The Australian. Tracing the scattering of his family, who migrated from China to Australia over a hundred years ago, Yang takes us around the world and back again in a visually-stunning and poignant exploration of cultural boundaries, family grudges, identity and liberation.

Part chamber concert, part performance work, Endings (April 26-30) employs portable turntables, reel-to-reel tape players and live electro-acoustic performance in an unforgettable meditation on cycles and the endings of things. Built in part from one-on-one interviews: people's stories, reflections, and voices, acclaimed performance-maker Tamara Saulwick, Artistic Director of Melbourne's Chamber Made Opera, finds form for experiences - both ordinary and extraordinary - that cluster around death, dying and afterlife. Featuring songs and vocals by Australian singer/songwriter Paddy Mann (known as Grand Salvo).

Spotlight Australia's dance offering MEETING (April 26-30) pairs the sophisticated choreography of AnTony Hamilton and obsessive machine-making practice of dancer/composer Alisdair Macindoe. In this choreographic study pitting man vs. machine, bodies are carried by the meditative pulse of 64 robotic percussion instruments and dance is stripped to its bare essentials.

Leading up to and during the Festival, Canadian Stage will hold its inaugural Spotlight Forum: a series of engaging post-show talks, professional development workshops and community events organized around Spotlight Australia. Aimed at both Toronto arts practitioners wishing to develop their craft by engaging with their Australian artistic counterparts, and audience members wanting to enhance their theatre experiences, Spotlight Forum will include: Theatre of Upheaval, a masterclass with Kiki Matese (Founding director, Rwanda Professional Dreamers) and Rachael Maza (Artistic Director, Ilbijerri Theatre), co-presented with Native Earth and Volcano Theatre; AGO Friday Nights: an Evening with Jack Charles - the star and creator of Jack Charles V The Crown performing solo at the AGO in advance of his Canadian Stage presentation (March 17 - 7 pm); with post-show talkbacks on March 30 & April 6 (Jack Charles), April 21 (William Yang), April 27 (AnTony Hamilton & Alistair Macindoe), and April 28 (Tamara Saulwick). Up to date events schedule will be available at canadianstage.com. Spotlight Forum is presented with the support of the Ontario Arts Council and the Toronto Arts Council through its Strategic Funding program.

About the Spotlight Festival
Canadian Stage's biennial Spotlight Festival highlights multidisciplinary performance work from the leading artists of a selected country, often giving Toronto audiences an opportunity to experience the work of renowned International Artists for the first time. Core to Canadian Stage's artistic mandate, Spotlight creates a dialogue between the best of Canadian contemporary performance and its counter-expression from around the world by celebrating the diverse artistic practices of one specific country. Past festivals include: Spotlight South Africa (2015), Spotlight Japan (2013), and Spotlight Italy (2011). Festival production sponsor TD Bank, with the support of Ontario Cultural Attractions Fund.

About Canadian Stage:
Founded in 1987, Canadian Stage is one of the country's leading not-for-profit contemporary performing arts companies, sharing new, innovative stage work from Canada and around the world. Led by Artistic & General Director Matthew Jocelyn and Managing Director Su Hutchinson, Canadian Stage produces and presents a new hybrid of multidisciplinary performance that pushes the boundaries of form and style, integrating theatre, dance, music, multimedia and more. Canadian Stage is dedicated to reinforcing the presence of Canadian art and artists within an international cultural dialogue, by acting as a home, incubator and exporter of leading Canadian and global performance. The company stages an annual season at three historic locations: the Bluma Appel Theatre; the Berkeley Street Theatre; and the High Park Amphitheatre, home to Shakespeare in High Park. Offering a range of education, artist training and community outreach programs, Canadian Stage is committed to cultivating tomorrow's artistic innovators and audiences. For more information, visit www.canadianstage.com.

Tickets for Spotlight Australia performances at the Berkeley Street Theatre (Jack Charles V The Crown, Blood Links, Endings, Meeting) range from $39-$69; The Return (Bluma Appel Theatre) ranges from $39-$114. Tickets are available by phone at 416.368.3110, online at canadianstage.com or in person at the Berkeley Street box office.

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